Lymantria beatrix Stoll

Phalaena Bombyx beatrix Stoll, 1790, *Papillons Exotiques des trois parties du Monde...,

Suppl.:* 173.

Lymantria ganaha Swinhoe, 1903, Trans. ent. Soc. London, 1903: 487.

Diagnosis

The facies of both sexes is distinctive, the males with more triangular forewings than in most other congeners, and both marked with a combination of black and bluish-grey, the latter predominant on the female forewing.

Taxonomic note

This is the Sundanian member of a group of Oriental species that includes L. chroma Collenette in Sulawesi, L. atemeles Collenette in Peninsular Malaysia and a complex of species in the Indian Subregion. The ground colour of the females in the mainland Asian taxa is white rather than grey. L. marginata Walker (N.E. Himalaya) has male genitalia similar to those of beatrix: other taxa have shorter deeper valves, and lack the subapical spur on the narrow dorsal arm. Toxopeus (1948) noted that both white and grey female forms occurred in Java, though with similar genitalic morphology, the white ones being referable to beatrix (t.loc. Java) and the grey to ganaha (t.loc. Sumatra), but could not say conclusively if the taxa were distinct or just forms of the same species, though settled on the former alternative. They may prove to be seasonal forms

Geographical range

Sundaland.

Habitat preference

Five out of six Bornean specimens taken in recent surveys are from lowland localities, but one male was taken at 1465m on Bukit Retak, Brunei.

Biology

The larva of the closely related L. marginata was illustrated in Thailand by Kuroko & Lewvanich (1993). It is variegated and reticulated in pale grey and black. The setae on the verrucae are long, generally brindled grey. There is a pair of narrow black hair pencils directed forward from the prothorax on each side of the head.

There is also an illustration of the larva of beatrix in Java by Moore (in Horsfield & Moore (1859 [1860]). It appears dull greenish with darker secondary setae, some of which have plumose tips. There are small, irregular, dark blotches and lines on each segment. The thorax has two transverse black bars.

The most frequently recorded host-plant for both beatrix and marginatais Mangifera (Anacardiaceae), but the larva has also been recorded from Durio (Bombacaceae) and Punica (Punicaceae) (Toxopeus, 1948; Pholboon, 1965; Kuroko & Lewvanich, 1993; unpublished IIE records).

Genitalia: